The Dangerous Phenomenon of Mass Formation

Have you noticed that fear is consuming a large segment of the population lately? Initially, we directed our worries at the virus. However, more and more, we are focusing our fear and anger on the unvaccinated. The same goes for anyone with an opinion that differs from the mainstream; they get labeled as misguided purveyors of vaccine hesitancy. All the while, the media seems bent on stoking fear and hatred. Prevention and treatment are nowhere to be found in their narrative.

All Was Not Well Before The Pandemic Either

 Pandemic aside, all has not been well for quite a while. We forget because, in these troublesome times, we yearn for the seemingly happier past. Believe it or not, in 2018, 46% of those surveyed reported sometimes or constantly feeling alone, and 47% felt left out. Furthermore, 43% feel isolated from others and that their relationships are not meaningful. Loneliness has negative health consequences as well. Of those who never had in-person interactions in 2018, half were in fair-to-poor overall health. 1  In 2020, 29% of Americans thought their jobs gave them little or no meaning. 2 This dismal viewpoint goes way back; in 2013, around 50% of 12,000 interviewees claimed their jobs had no meaning and significance.

Furthermore, they perceived no connection to their employers' mission. Another much larger poll found only 13% of people liked their job. Lastly, 37% of British workers thought that their job was useless. 3 The feelings of isolation and unhappiness at work leave seven out of ten Americans not engaged at work. 4

Anxiety Disorder and Free-floating Anxiety

In addition to our loneliness and discontent at work, anxiety disorders afflict 40 million adults in the United States age 18 and older, or 18.1% of the population every year. In addition, 25.1% of children between 13 and 18 years old suffer from them as well. 5 Anxiety disorders manifest as constant worry and fear that interferes with daily life. For example, people may experience dread, distress, fright, or agitation for no discernible reason. Psychiatrists refer to this unexplained general feeling of anxiety as free-floating anxiety. 6 The term free-Floating is appropriate because those with it don't associate anything as its cause. Since there seems to be no known cause, those who suffer from it see no way to alleviate it. 7

Mass Formation

Dr. Mattias Desmet is a psychologist and professor at the University of Ghent who believes that the conditions of loneliness and isolation, coupled with free-floating anxiety associated with the frustrations and agitation, plus no sense of life's purpose, can have explosive consequences. For example, large numbers of dissatisfied, fearful, confused, and isolated people can suddenly band together in common cause against a sudden event that they identify as the sole cause of their misery. The sudden focusing on a single apparent threat provides immediate and palpable relief from the myriad longstanding pressures of isolation, confusion, and free-floating anxiety and discontent. Dr. Desmet calls this phenomenon mass formation. 8, 9

Relief and a New Sense of Purpose

The new sense of purpose, sudden connection with vast numbers of like-minded people, the focus on taking on the newfound cause, and the relief it brings, lead to an intoxicating obsession with the movement's leaders, their rules, and suggested behaviors. As a result, 30% become strict adherents, 40% acquiesce for fear or just go along, and 30% resist, Mattias states. 10 Dr. Desmet likens the 30% who unshakingly believe everything about the new movement to being in a state akin to hypnosis. The difference is that hypnotized people don't commit immoral acts, unlike those with mass formation who sometimes support or commit violence. The 30% who resist are met with scorn, ridicule, and hatred by the hardcore set. The strict adherents can have a fascistic intolerance to those who don't go along. Their bias is a natural self-defense mechanism because the psyche would have to confront reality, thus bringing them back to the initial anxiety and discontent that precipitated the mass formation in the first place. 11 The mass formation crowd may start calling for the silencing, removal, imprisonment, or even death of the people who resist the new ways.

Taking Things Too Far

The massive increase in social connection leads to mental intoxication over their new purpose, social cohesion, and singular obsession with combating this newly minted source of anxiety. Sadly, leaders often emerge who are even more narrowly focused than their followers. As I stated in this previous post, anxious people seek out reassurance. When a strong individual, group, or government is the source of comfort, the panicked masses believe they can be rescued from their plight by them. Because of this attraction phenomenon, Dr. Desmet claims that thuggish or even totalitarian leaders often arise during mass formation.

The Prediction of Carl Sagan

In his last interview with Charlie Rose in 1996, the famous scientist Carl Sagan spoke about how the world continues to be based more and more on science and technology. He feared the general public and our leaders wouldn't make total sense out of it all. He called the mass ignorance coupled with leaders with equal ignorance a combustible mix. He predicted it would blow up in our faces at some point. He lamented that those who don't understand the complexities of scientific and technological things won't run them properly, and the outcome could be dangerous. He concluded that science is not just a body of knowledge, rather a way of thinking that we call the scientific method. 

Ritualistic Behaviors

Dr. Desmet also holds a master's degree in statistical analysis. When the pandemic started, the predictions of death were so horrific that our leaders called for us to stay home to stop the spread. Most of the world complied with this simple suggestion. However, professor Desmet noticed that the disease spread anyway. He also saw the predictions were fifteen times greater than what actually happened, but our leaders did not adjust their stay-at-home recommendations. Instead, they made them more strict and added mask mandates. So now we have added vaccines, vaccine mandates, and vaccine passports to the list of things we need to do to stop Covid. He compares the lockdowns, police states, vaccines, masks, mandates, and passports to simple ritualistic behaviors typically seen during mass formation. "The more absurd, useless, and meaningless these rituals," Desmet explains, "the better they psychologically function to build social cohesion." 12

Following the pack

Whales are very social creatures who often travel in large pods or groups. However, in rare instances, some pods or groups may unknowingly follow a sick or disoriented whale towards shallow waters and beaches where they can get stuck in shallow water or end up beaching themselves, resulting in their deaths. Sadly, humans are even more social than whales, and our need to bond together in a common cause can also supersede our cognitive abilities.

What Should We Do?

First and foremost, remain calm, love team human, but stand firm on your beliefs and seek out the truth. Rational thought wins over panic. Please realize that the "system" depends on our demoralization, deepens it, and is a projection into society. Vaclav Havel, the famous dissident, called for "the rehabilitation of values like trust, openness, responsibility, solidarity, love" in politics. He believed that "a genuine, profound and lasting change for the better . . . will have to derive from human existence, from the fundamental reconstitution of position of people in the world, their relationships to themselves and each other." 13 So please, keep up your relationships. 

Julianne Holt-Lunstad studied long-lived populations and looked at diet, exercise, marital status if they smoked or drank, and how they cared for their health. She concludes that those with good social relationships have a 50% greater survival likelihood than those with poor or insufficient social connections. The magnitude of this effect is comparable with quitting smoking. Moreover, it exceeds many well-known risk factors for mortality (e.g., obesity, physical inactivity). 14 I have written more about it here. 

Lastly, stay healthy. I believe that most healthy people are at a far lower risk from Covid-19 than the mass media tell us. So get fit: lose your excess weight, get strong, eat right, sleep right, and enjoy yourself!